Posted on 06/25/2010 10:13:56 AM PDT by Chi-townChief
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — In a tongue-in-cheek call for immigration reform, farm workers are teaming up with comedian Stephen Colbert in a challenge to unemployed Americans: Come on, take our jobs.
Farm workers are tired of being blamed by politicians and anti-immigrant activists for taking work that should go to Americans and dragging down the economy, said Arturo Rodriguez, the president of the United Farm Workers of America.
So the group is encouraging the unemployed — and any Washington pundits who want to join them — to apply for the some of thousands of agricultural jobs being posted with state agencies as harvest season begins.
All applicants need to do is fill out an online form under the banner "I want to be a farm worker" at www.takeourjobs.org, and experienced field hands will train them and connect them to farms.
Three out of four farm workers in the U.S. were born abroad, and more than half are illegal immigrants, according to the Labor Department.
Proponents of tougher immigration laws have argued that farmers have become used to cheap labor. The problem with the UFW's proposition, they argue, is that growers don't want to raise wages and improve working conditions enough to attract Americans.
In either case, those who have done the job have some words of advice for applicants.
First, dress appropriately. During summer, when the harvest of fruits and vegetables is in full swing in California's Central Valley, temperatures hover in the triple digits. Heat exhaustion is one of the reasons farm labor consistently makes the Bureau of Labor Statistics' top ten list of the nation's most dangerous jobs.
Second, expect long days. Growers have a small window to pick fruit before it is overripe; work starts before dawn and goes on for 12 or more hours.
And don't count on a big paycheck. Farm workers are excluded from federal overtime provisions, and small farms don't even have to pay the minimum wage. Fifteen states don't require farm labor to be covered by workers compensation laws.
Any takers?
"The reality is farmworkers who are here today aren't taking any American jobs away. They work in often unbearable situations," Rodriguez said. "I don't think there will be many takers, but the offer is being made. Let's see what happens."
To highlight just how unlikely the prospect of Americans lining up to pick strawberries or grapes is, Comedy Central's "Colbert Report" plans to feature the "Take Our Jobs" campaign on July 8. Requests to Comedy Central and Colbert for comment on the nature of the collaboration weren't immediately answered.
Another way of tackling the issue is to strengthen immigration enforcement, said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, which supports strict immigration laws.
It's an idea that might not end up on Comedy Central, but reducing the pool of farm workers would force growers to improve working conditions and raise wages.
"They're daring the American people to get by without farm workers," he said. "What I'm saying is, 'Let's take them up on that and call their bluff.'"
The campaign is being played for jokes, but the need to secure the right to work for immigrants who are here is serious business, said Michael Rubio, supervisor in Kern County, one of the biggest ag producing counties in the nation.
"Our county, our economy, rely heavily on the work of immigrant and unauthorized workers," he said. "I would encourage all our national leaders to come visit Kern County and to spend one day, or even half a day, in the shoes of these farm workers."
Hopefully, the message will go down easier with some laughs, said Manuel Cunha, president of the California grower association Nisei Farmers League, who was not a part of the campaign.
"If you don't add some humor to this, it's enough to get you drinking, and I don't mean Pepsi," Cunha said, dismissing the idea that Americans would take up the farm workers' offer.
California's agriculture industry launched a similar campaign in 1998, hoping to recruit welfare recipients and unemployed workers to work on farms, he said. Three people showed up.
"Give us a legal, qualified work force. Right now, farmers don't know from day to day if they're going to get hammered by ICE," he said, referring to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. "What happens to my labor pool?"
His organization supports AgJobs, a bill currently in the Senate which would allow those who have worked in U.S. agriculture for at least 150 days in the previous two years to get legal status.
The bill has been proposed in various forms since the late 1990s, with backing from the United Farm Workers of America and other farming groups, but has never passed.
Politicians' and advocates' perspectives on the matter might change if they were to take up the farm workers' offer, said Rubio from Bakersfield.
"The view and the temperature is much different from a row in a field than from inside an air conditioned office," he said. "Is it a challenge? Most certainly, yes. Come on down."
I'll put out flyer's in Spanish and put out several hundred fliers, and send them your way...No joke.
Now, lets have that address bob...Send it in PM if you desire.
Until I was nineteen, I rogued and detasseled corn, walked beans, and bailed hay.
The only one I actually enjoyed was the roguing, but all of them brought in money in rural areas in which cushy jobs weren’t available.
I am glad I did it all. It further encouraged a good work ethic.
Oh, and I realized just how nice it could feel to simply take a shower and sit down with a soda. It’s never better than after truly hard work.
You are exactly right, Watson! My grand-daughter is married to a fine 21 year old Marine that has 9 brothers and sisters who was homeschooled, in California of all places.
He guards our nuclear arsenal, a position that requires SWAT type training. The kid is awesome.
He and his military buddies all seem to be cut from the same cloth. It is the public school population and average kid on the street I’m referring too. They won’t do the work...period. To them, all they are concerned with are their “benefits”, man, I hate that word.
I've seen their cars, too.
Dude, you got a messed up car. :~>
If we cut welfare benefits and strengthened immigration enforcement these jobs would be filled. Guaranteed.
If it’s a choice of harvest the crops or starve, the hard core parasites would choose to starve but most would turn out.
When I was a kid (ages long ago), we ate frozen sweetened strawberries. They were Safeway Bel Air house brand, and came frozen in a little box that had to be thawed out. There weren't boxes and boxes of fresh strawberries at the grocery store all the time like there are now.
I've seen this process first hand. As Illegals take over the workplace it becomes an increasingly hostile environment for english speaking citizens to work. Even if you find an american who wants the job his co-workers will make certain the experience is miserable.
exactly, did it for years growing up in an agricultural area. They won’t let kids 9teenagers) who want to work work
Now suddenly, everyone knows a great American young person, some serving in Iraq etc.....
What a pack of BS’ing hypocrites.
Take the crap out of your ears $hithead. Not once did I profess a love for illegals, quite the opposite. What I’m referring to moron is the fact the regular spoiled assed kid of liberal voters will not do the work...GET IT?
And the fact Obama says these same little spoiled bastards can stay attached to mommy and daddy’s insurance umbilical cord until the age 26 makes it only worse.
Geeze, I don’t know how you can even log on with such an IQ as you just displayed.
hey, I’ve de-tasseled corn, rode the machine with 5 others. first day our hands bled,but no one quit— we wrapped them in tape, and at the end (about 3 weeks) we were tough as leather
Excellent idea.
Hey bigweaselbob, ya already said the majority of young Americans are little lazy bastards....
Ya can't put the bullet back in the gun slick.
Again, you clearly live in a screwed up place, where 50 percent of the young people can't even pass a drug test...(your words)
So, do you have any other kind words for your hard working illegal aliens?
Thanks for that info. I suspected that might have been the case, but I missed that information confirming my suspicions. Of course I didn’t see what the “family” business is, but there is a strong lobby component, that is for sure.
No, but I do have a parting word for you, You are an embarrassment to FreeRepublic, moron.
Gotta love this!
“...farm workers are brought in to do it, because the companies are no longer allowed to employ teenagers for this work...”
That’s the big problem right there: we have made it illegal for children to do local summer farm work. Berry farmers in the Pacific Northwest would hire armies of kids to come out and pick berries every summer, but no more.
The situation in the large agricultural areas of central California is different. Those farmers have relied on Mexican field hands for as long as I can remember.
If they don’t like the jobs, why don’t they go back where they came from?
I don’t know what kind of response they’ll get. They may end up being surprised. I have two family members who got laid off, and are now doing jobs “Americans don’t want to do”. Granted, they aren’t that excited about taking the pay cut, as they have big families, but they’re doing what they have to do. One of them was told he was “over-qualified” for many of the jobs he applied for, so they wouldn’t hire him ... very frustrating.
PREACH IT, BROTHER!!!!!!!!!!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.